RAUTAHAT: A divorced teenage girl was shot dead at her home in Madhavnarayan Municipality-7 of Rautahat district, on Wednesday night.

The deceased has been identified as Amrita Kumari Sah, the 17-year-old daughter of Ram Ayodhya Sah of Laukaha village in Madhavnarayan-7.

Sah was shot on her right temple while she was sleeping, at 11:30 last night.

The victim's mother Sita Devi Sah reportedly left the room's door open when she went to the toilet at night. Cashing in the opportunity, an unidentified person entered into the room and fired one round of bullet at Amrita, according to Sita Devi. She said she hurried back to the room as she heard the firing noise and found her daughter shaking in agony, who died after a while. The murderer had run away, she said.

A team of security personnel under the command of Superintendent of Police (SP) Siddhi Bikram Shah reached the incident site immediately and carried out an onsite inspection.

When Rautahat's Chief District Officer (CDO) Indra Dev Adhikari came to know that the teenager was killed at her parents' home, he along with SP Surya Sen Oli of Armed Police Force and government advocates reached the site where he issued a directive to police to proceed with the investigation taking the suspects into custody.

SP Shah informed that a sniffer dog was taken to the site for investigation.

The victim's family members said that Amrita was married to Rupesh Sah alias Sohan of Madhuban Goth on March 8, 2020. On the fourth day of their marriage, Rupesh was attacked with a knife and injured severely for which he had to undergo treatment for three months.

After that, Rupesh divorced his wife at Sarlahi District Court in Malangwa, on August 9 and the following day he also registered a murder attempt case against Amrita and her boyfriend — Sachind Kushwaha, a resident of Kushwaha Chok in Madhavnarayan — whom he held responsible for the knife attack.

Deceased Amrita and Sachind had been absconding since the case was filed in the court.

It has come to light that Amrita had been secretly living at her brother-in-laws' residence in Sapgadha, Gaur Municipality-5 from where she went to her parents' home to celebrate Tihar festival.

Following the murder, police have taken the victim's ex-husband Rupesh into police custody while her boyfriend Sachind is still at large, police informed.

Meanwhile, further investigation into the incident is underway, SP Shah said.